Warming device for carburetors



C. D. HIGGINS.

WARMINGDEVICE FOR CARBURETORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR.14, I921.

Patented Aug. 1, 1922.

I enter bavl zw W24 To all whom it may concern:

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

, CHARLES 1). HIGGINS, or BERKELEY, cAmroRmA.

WARMING DEVICE FOR CARBURETORS.

Specification of Letters Patent.'

Patented Aug- .1, 1922.

Application file d March 14, 1521. Serial No. 452,012.

Be it knownthat I, CHARLES D, H1e1i-rs, a citizen of the United States, and. resident of Berkeley, Alameda County, California,

have inventednew and useful Im rovements in Warming Devices for Carburetors, of which the following is a' specification.

1 My invention'has for its object means by which a mixtureiurnished through a carburetor is warmed to a suflicient degreeto secure an eflicientexplosion therefrom and is particularly applicable in use with ternal explosion engines. --This I accomphsh by warming either; the air flowing into and.

through the carburetor or the hydrocarbon, as gasoline, with which the ,air is to be mixed, or both,fby. introducing a heating unit comprism an electrical resistance wire suitably locate and in combination with the carburetor parts, andthen energizingthe said resistance by an electrical current of suflicient intensity, whereby the air, or gaso line or their mixture flowing by the said coil is prewarmed so that it takes up and more readily vaporizes the gasoline than heretofore. I 1

I prefer to employ in combination with the said heating unit a suitable switch and a controlling resistance in series therewith whereby the degreecf energization of the heating unit may be readily controlled, as from the dashboard of an automobile.

It is well known that where the air and gasoline are cold the volatilization of'the' hydrocarbon oil, asdistillate or gasoline, Is not sufiiciently rapid to meet the requirements of starting an engine supplied 'from said carburetor, whereas by my invention of the constituents of the said one or both mixture are prewarmetl to a sufiicient'degree r heat generated by the engine may be'ema ployed'to warm the air flowing into the carburetor and the increase in the temperature of the air so supplied is now employed to matically prevent -,tr1c current.'

automatically interrupt. thefiow of electricity through the resistance wire to thus autothe excessive use of elec- By referring to the accompanying draw- 1ngs my invention will be made clear.

-F1g. 1 1llustrates a simple form of car buretor. in cross section equipped'with thedevice of my invention and showing diagrammatically thereon the connections for air supply to the carburetor and the manner n which this air is warmed when theengine is 111 operation and showing my resistance coil as located in the air supply duct for prewarming the air initially and also the my invention about the gasoapplication of line nozzle.

Fig. 2, [is a plan view of a portion of Fig. 1. n -Fig. 3 is a detail of the gasoline nozzle and heating unit or resistance coil of Fig. 1. Fig. {is a diagrammatic showing of the connectionsffor operating the resistance.

tain of the connections in one adaptation of my invention.

Throughoutthe figures similar numerals refer to identical parts.

A simple form of carburetor body is shown by 'thenumeral 1 in which is the throat piece or tube 2, the controlling throttle 3, the asoline nozzle 4, the gasoline sup- F ig. 5 is a-diagrammatic showing of oer-h ply cham er 5 containing the float 6 and duct 7. The air inlet passage to the carburetor is indicatedat 8', which air inlet I prefer to connect around the muffler 9 or discharge pipe from an engine and through which thegases of combustion after theyare used in the engine are discharged in the well known way. It is to be understood that the carburetor is connected at 10 with an internal explosive engine of well known type not shown and that saidengine discharges its gases through the .muflie pipe 9. At 11 I employ a concentric pipe external to 9 and spaced therefrom so'that air may freel enter between the inside wall of 11 an the outside wall of 9 and thereafter pass through the assage .8 to the carburetor throat piece 2 l Vhenthe engineis first started and all of the parts are cold the air flowing into the carburetor, as indicated by the arrows 12,

12, will be cold until it contacts with the heat generating resistance, sheath or cell 13 mounted in the path of he air and within the passage 8. The walls of this cell warm the said air whichthen proceeds to the throat piece of 1 the carburetor and more readily vaporizesl the gasoline received from the nozzle 4:. Within the cell 13 I wind the resistance wire 14- which is properly insulated between the several windings and -between the walls of the cell in any well known way. The\cell"13 I prefer to form with flanges 15, 15 so'that wheninstalled in an opening, preferably of elongated slot form, in the passage-8 it may{ through the circuit Wire 23 said resistance 25- and 22, back through the second circuit con- 14, said thermostat wire 17 'saidcontacts 20 nection'Q l. v I

Referring particularly to Fig. '4 I have shown a rheostat' or variable resistanc'e at 34 and a contacting lever therefor at 25 in circuit with the main battery. supply 26 from the source of electrical energy 27. The

' will be obtained enabling the engine conother circuit connection is made through the wire 23. It will now be seen that if the switch arm 25 is in the'neutral position shown in full line of'Fig. 4 no current will the heating'unit 14. On the if contact is made at- 28.the. smallest amount of current will flow through the wire 14 because of the high resistance interposed by the coil 34. 1 The switch arm may now be advanced to any other posi-- flow through other han tion as 29 when most of the; series resistance being cut out a considerable current-will flow through .the Wire 14 heating the said resistance and ,the walls of the cell 13 and therefore the air flowing thereby in the passage 8; which warm a r will take up and quickl vaporize-the gasoline from the nozzle 4, an a more efiicient explosive mixture nected with the carburetor at. 10 to quickly start. The operation of the engine will now :cause the dischargeof hot gas through the muffler pipe 9, the exterior walls of which will warm the air now flowing in at 12- and raise the heat of the air flowinginto the passage 8. This increased temperature will now cause expansion of the thermostat 17 and the separation of the contacts 20 and 22 and thus'interrupt all further current as long as the hot gases from the engine ade- 'quately warm the inflowing air.

At 30 I have shown an auxiliary coil of resistance'wire wound about the gasoline nozzle 4 by which the said nozzle, therefore the gasoline flowing therethrou'gh, may also be warmed. =This resistance wire is wound upon an insulated support as and,

is. energized through the connections 32 and 33 and which I prefer to connect in series with the resistance coil 1% as in)- dicated in the wiring diagram at Fig. 5. It will be noted that no contact is made or broken within the range of any possible ex plosive mixture so that any possibility of explosion from'a spark is avoided. Also in some forms of carburetors it may be I necessary't o employ both the coils 14; and

30 whereas in other types the resistance in the air passage as the coill l may be sufficient, or in still others the coil 30 may be employed to warm both the air flowing by it on the outside through the passage 8 and to warm the gasoline flowing through the inside of said coil as through the nozzle 4 or in still others the Warming of the gasoline alone by. the coil 30 may be sufficient in such latter case the said coil may advantageously be enclosed in a spool or heat insulating cover 35 and I desire to be understood as claiming all suchvvariations.

I claim:

1. In a carburetor a gasoline duct, an air inlet passage, an. electrical resistance inter- -posed in said assage and around said duct,

a source of e ectricity, a switch and energizing connections whereby the gasoline flowing in said duct and the, air flowing in said passage are 'heated by .said resistance and before they commingle.

2. A carburetor and elements as set forth in, claim 1 and a thermostat in said passage and extending through the walls thereof and -constructed and adapted to separate a pair ofcontacts interposed in said connections whereby the current is interrupted when a certain .predetermined temperature is exceeded. l

3. A carburetor andelements as set forth in claim 1 and a thermostat element in said passage and extending through the walls thereof and constructed and adapted'to separate a pair of contacts interposed in said connections whereby the current is interrupted when a certain predetermined temperature is exceeded, and a rheostat interposed in series in the circuit and having a plurality of taps with'any of which said switch is adapted to contactat the selection of the operator.

4. In a carburetor, an air inlet passage, an

'electrical resistance interposed in said passage, a source of electricity, a switch and energizing connections whereby said resis tance may be heatedby the flow of electricity therethrough on depressing said switch, and wherein said resistance 1S embedded in insulation and inclosed within a sheath having a top through which said connections are I energizing connections whereby said resistance may be heated by the flowof electricity 'therethrough on depressing said switch, and-wherein'said resistance is embedded in insulation and inclosed within a sheath having a top'through which said con nections are passed to said resistance and, i said sheath is inserted through a wall of said passage leaving its top exposed outside thereof whereby all energized connections are sealed from said passage, and a thermo stat element in said passage and extending through the walls thereof and constructed and adapted to separate a pair of contacts interposed in said connections whereby the current is interrupted when a certain predetermined temperature is exceeded.

6. In a carburetor, an air inlet passage, an electrical resistance interposed in said passage, asource of electricity, a switch and energizing connections whereby'said resistanceimay be heated by the flow of electricity therethrough on depressing said switch, and wherein saidresistance is embedded in insulation and inclosed within a sheath having a top through which'said connections are assed to said resistance and said sheath is inserted through a wall of said passage leaving its top exposed outside thereof whereby all energized connections are sealed from said passage, and a rheostat interposed in series in the circuit and having a pluralityof taps with any of which said switch is adapted to contact at the selection of the operator.

7, Ina carburetor, an airinlet passage,

an electrical resistance interposed in said passage, a source of electricity, a switch and energizing connections whereby said resistance may be heated by the flow of elec tricity therethrough ondepressing said switch, and -.wherein said resistance is embedded in insulation and inclosed within a sheath having a top through which said connectionsare passed to' said resistance and sa d sheath is inserted through a wall of said passage leaving its top exposed outside thereof whereby all energized connections are sealed from said passage, anda rheostat interposed in series in the circuit and having a plurality of taps with any of which said switch is adapted to contact at the selection of the operator, and a thermostat element in said passage and extending through the walls thereof and constructed and adapted to separates pair of contacts interposed in saidz'connections whereb the current is inaround a gasoline inlet to said carburetor whereby said resistance is adapted to warm also the gasoline flowing therethrough.

9. In a carburetor, elements as setforth in 'claim 1 wherein said resistance is disposed around a gasoline inlet whereby said resistance is adapted to warm the gasoline flowing therethrough, and a thermostat element in said passage and extendlng through the walls thereof and constructed and adapted to separate a pair of contacts interposed in said connections whereby the current is interrupted when a certain predetermined temperature is exceeded.

10. In a carburetor, elements as set forth in claim 1 wherein said resistance isdisposed around a gasoline inlet whereby said resistance is adapted to warm the gasoline flowing therethrough, and a thermostat element in. said passage and extending through the walls thereof and constructed and adapted to separate a pair of contacts interposed in said connection whereby the current is interrupted when a certain predetermined temperature is exceeded, and a vrheostat interposed in series in the. circuit and having a plurality of taps with any of which said switch is adapted to contact at the selection of the operator.

11. In a carburetor elements as set forth in claim .lwherein'said resistance is embedded in insulation and inclosed within a sheath having a top through which said connections are passed to said'resistance and said sheath is inserted through a wall of said passage leaving its top exposed outside thereof whereby all energized connections are sealed from said passage.

12. In a carburetorelements as set forth in claim l wherein said resistance is embedded in insulation and/inclosed within a sheath'having a top through which said connections are'passed to said resistance and said sheath'i'sins er'ted through a ,wall-of' said passage'leaving its top exposed outside I thereof whereby-all energized connections are sealed from said passage, and a thermostat element in said passage and extending through the walls thereof and constructed and adapted to separate a pair of contacts interposed in said connections whereby the current is interrupted when a certain preessee? from said. passe e, and a rheostat interposed. in series in the circuit and having a plurality oi taps with any of which said switch is adapted, to contact at the selection of the operetor, and a thermostat element in said passage and extending through the walls thereof and constructed and adapted to separate a pair of contacts interposed in said connections whereby [the current is interrupted When a certain predetermined temperature is exceeded.

CHAlEtlL-TES D. HllGGINS. 

